SUPREME: THE RETURN, the second trade collection of Alan Moore's run as writer of Rob Liefeld's SUPREME, is the book your Moore collection can do without. The book reprints Supreme #53-56 and the follow up series, SUPREME: THE RETURN #1-6, and it is very likely one of the worst $20+ comic purchases I've ever made.

To put it simply, the characters are not engaging and piqued my interests only in the rarest of moments. Supreme was simply Liefeld's lame and unimaginative take on Superman. Moore tried to make his run on Supreme a commentary on the Superman archetype and the Superman mythos that was built in the publishing history of the various Superman comics. So instead of quality storytelling, Moore gave us navel gazing and masturbation, as if to say, "Look at how smart I am. Read my dull dissertation on Superman."

The art is functional, with Rick Veitch's contributions being a novel take on Golden and Silver Age art styles. Beyond Veitch, there's not a single panel in here worth remembering. Read this book and Grant Morrison's criticisms of Moore start to make sense. GRADE D+